'Stranger Things' Releases Details for Three New Season 2 Characters

We all breathed a sigh of relief when we heard that Eleven, the tiny, laconic telekinetic test subject and unofficial Kellogg's mascot ("Leggo my Eggos!"), would return in Season 2 of Stranger Things, but everything else has been a mystery so far. How will the writers achieve Justice for Barb? Will Eleven be reunited with the gang? Will young Will Byers receive professional psychiatric counseling? We just don't know. What we do know is that Season 2 will introduce us to three new characters, including one that bears a striking resemblance to Eleven.

Entertainment Weekly recently released the details on the new characters—the first of these is Bob Newby, a potential ally for the kids:

Sean Astin (The Goonies, Lord of the Rings trilogy) will play Bob Newby, "a kindhearted former nerd who went to high school with Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Hopper (David Harbour) and now manages the local Hawkins RadioShack."

Oh boy, Stranger Things—Mikey from The Goonies? You're just putting your inspirations on full display here. For those of you who don't know, the showrunners at Stranger Things were heavily influenced by 80s films, and The Goonies is pretty much the blueprint for the whole show, along with some paranormal sci-fi stuff like Close Encounters of the Third Kind (the actress who plays Eleven is surprisingly articulate about this topic). Still, it sounds like Bob will be a new ally for the kids, similar to a certain other adult nerd in Hawkins. On another note, RadioShack joins Kellogg's as the subject of unofficial ad placement—look for the new special-edition Stranger Things ham radio, in stores Summer 2017 (not really!)

The next new character is Roman, who might end up being similar to Eleven:

Danish actress Linnea Berthelsen has been cast as Roman. Per Netflix, she's "an emotionally damaged, magnetic young woman who suffered a great loss as a child. Although she does not live in Hawkins, she is mysteriously connected to the supernatural events at the lab…"

Mysterious connection to supernatural events? Check. Association with the laboratory that experimented on Eleven? Check. Damaged young person with traumatic past? Check. Berthselsen is twenty-two, so Roman is going to be older than the kids, so it will probably be a different dynamic than Eleven in any case. We'll have to keep an eye on Berthelsen as we get closer to Season 2—maybe some interviews will shed more light on how she plays into the plot.

Finally, we have Dr. Owens, who will probably be the main villain of Season 2:

Paul Reiser (Aliens, Whiplash) has been cast as Dr. Owens, "a high-ranking member within the Department of Energy on a 'clean-up' assignment, tasked with containing the events of last year."

Anyone associated with the government, as E.T. taught us, is going to be bad. Especially if there are small kids involved. It's probably indicative of his villain status that he played the sneaky, treacherous Carter Burke in Aliens.

The biggest insight into the second season, though, may be a quote from Matt Duffer, where he said that Season 2 will operate like a movie sequel. He mentioned James Cameron as a positive example:

"I think one of the reasons [Cameron's] sequels are as successful as they are is he makes them feel very different than what came before without losing what we loved about the original," Matt Duffer said in August. "So I think we kinda looked to him and what he does and tried to capture a little bit of the magic of his work."